Destiny: The Iron Lords
by Wowhead
Summary: Years ago, The Iron Lords stood as the greatest of Guardians, leading the Last City into an age where the people no longer lived in fear of the Fallen Hordes. Now, their accomplishments are no more then legends. But now a new guardian has risen from the ashes of the old world and he will find himself on the front lines; His will is Iron and he will create new stories to tell.
1. Chapter 1

?

For the first time in what seemed like an eternity, he opened his eyes. Though an eternity seemed like an exaggeration, he truly had no idea how long he had been there. Moreover, he also had no idea where he was. He felt a sense of floating, but besides that he saw nothing, heard nothing, and felt nothing. Needless to say however, he wasn't bored, this endless expanse of eternity was somewhat comforting, and if he knew any other form of existence he had no recollection. In fact, as far as he could recall, he hardly remembered ever opening his eyes, as that brought a sense of consciousness, not the thoughtlessness that he was used to. But this time something felt different, as if someone, or something was trying to pull him from the void. As he glanced around the darkness he saw something: A light. He tried to reach for it, but his arms refused to move. The light was floating over him now, seemingly contemplating him. "Could it be?" A voice said, "There you are". The light then expanded, and as it did came memories, a name, his name? But it was gone before he could grasp it. As he felt himself rushing back to the mortal coil he grasped one memory that didn't leave, another name: The Traveler.

Old Russia, Earth, 500 ATC

"Guardian? Guardian?" A voice asked, "Eyes up Guardian.". He opened his eyes, slowly taking in his surroundings. For a moment his location escaped him, but like as flash it came to him: Old Russia. "Ugh," He mumbled, "What happened?"

"Well you see..." The voice began, but trailed off. The voice belonged to a ball, to the new Guardian's immense surprise, whizzing back and forth in front of him with a single blue eye. The eye was alive with intelligence, regarding the Guardian with curiosity.

"Well you see," The ball began again, "I'm a Ghost, actually, I'm your Ghost. But for all I know you've been dead for a very long time, so you're going to see a lot of things you don't understand so just trust me." The Guardian nodded mutely, The word Ghost was familiar to him, he couldn't quite put his finger on it but it seemed somewhat comforting. It seemed like the Ghost had more to say, but before he could a deep, guttural scream pierced the air.

"A Fallen war cry!" The Ghost exclaimed, buzzing in the air rapidly, " I got to get you to The City, come on lets go, there's no time to explain!" The Ghost vanished in a flash, it's voice resonating in the Guardians head, "I'm still here, run towards the wall, quick as you can." Numerous questions remained in the Guardians head, but he decided that if he somehow managed to make it to this City, all of his questions would be answered, and if not...He would be dead anyway.

The Guardian went in a full out sprint towards the wall, taking no notice to the rusted cars or the numerous human skeletons. Running through a maintenance door, the Guardian quickly closed the door behind him, shutting off the Fallen screams and leaving only silence. "Alright," Ghost said, appearing above the Guardians head as a light source, I need to find you a weapon before the Fallen find us." The Guardian's run slowed to a walk, quietly moving forward as the sound of Fallen clicks echoed all around them. Ducking under a partially opened gate, the Ghosts light illuminated a black rifle. The Guardian picked it up, "A Khvostov 7G-02? 25 round magazine," He whistled appreciatively, "Cracked red dot sight? I haven't seen one of this since..."

"What was that?

"Nothing..."

The guardian blinked in confusion, how did he know that? For the briefest of moments he felt like he remembered something, but it was gone before he knew it. Continuing his walk through the dark halls, the Guardian preemptively chambered a round, aware that the hissing of the Fallen was growing louder and louder. Turning a corner, two Fallen jumped from the ceiling in front of him. With a cry they sprung at the Guardian, but he was quicker, firing a burst into one's brain he quickly grabbed the other by the throat. Struggling fiercely, the alien looked at the Guardian with obvious hate, paying no heed, The guardian emptied the rest of his magazine into it's skull before letting it's body drop to the floor.

"Don't worry about ammo," The Ghost said, "I can take your fallen enemies ammo and synth it to match your weapon." Opening his palm, the Guardian saw a magazine materialize and fall into his hand. The guardian felt a grin slowly creep across his face, "I don't know who or what I was, But I can tell that this was something I was good at."

"The indiscriminate slaughter of life?"

"Well when you put it that way you make me seem like a psychopath."

Reloading his rifle, the Guardian continued down the hall, a path of the unknown but he was ready to take it full on and...

"Um, excuse me," The AI's voice resounded around his head, "I hate to interrupt what is no doubt a very deep and emotional tirade, but I think you need a name."

"You interrupted me for that?"

"Well yes...How does Bill sound?"

"Nope"

"Tyler?

"Nope"

...

About 30 minutes later.

"Tyrone?"

"NOOO!"

"Ishmael?"

The Guardian let out a sigh of suppressed frustration, "Jeez, are you just looking through a database of names?"

"Yes actually, how did you know?"

The guardian shook his head in disbelief, "Just a guess." The pair had made their way through the Cosmodrome bit by bit, killing Fallen as they went. The Guardian, to his immense pleasure, had found a shotgun, but had quickly used all his ammo, his complaints went ignored by his Ghost, who claimed that special ammo took longer to synthesize. "So what exactly are we looking for again?" The Guardian asked, as he made his way down yet another hallway.

"You ask that now?" The Ghost sighed, "I'm tracking a ship we can use to fly out of here. In fact, there should be a usable one right around the corner." The Ghost was right, but surrounding the ship was numerous Fallen. Quickly diving for cover, The Guardian managed to avoid the first volley of energy shots from the Fallen, but he could barely poke his head out and get a shot off before the next shots would send him back into cover.

"Can you do anything besides be a sarcastic ball of light?"The Guardian asked, "I can revive you if you die" His companion replied. The guardian rolled his eyes and quickly glanced over the wall he was hiding behind. His potshots had had some success, as the majority of the Fallen now lay dead. But remaining were one Vandal and a very large Captain, both spread far enough away where he couldn't take one without the other shooting him. "Alright, I need you out here Ghost."

Quickly appearing in his hand the AI looked at the Guardian with confusion, "Whatever would you need me for."

"So you chose me to revive right? So that means we're stuck together, and that means we have to trust each other right?"

"Uh yes..."

"Okay" The guardian said, grabbing the Ghost with his hand, "Then I just need you to trust me."

Sprinting out from cover, The guardian charged out from cover, screaming wildly as he ran towards the Captain. With a quick and powerful flick of his wrist he threw the Ghost towards the Vandal, hoping only that he didn't miss, he threw himself on top of the Captain. The Fallen leader was strong, but the Guardian refused back down, throwing punch after punch, exchanging blow after blow with the Captain, who for every blow the guardian connected with, the Captain would connect with four others just as fast.

Sending the Captain to the floor with a kick, The guardian removed his helmet before jumping on top of the alien, bashing it's head in with his helmet. And just like that it was over, nothing left but the Guardians heavy breathing. He let out a groan, the flimsy armor he had been revived with had not held up well, he could tell he had cracked at least two ribs. And glancing down at his stomach he could see blood oozing out of a hole in his armor, no doubt some of the Fallens shots had found their mark.

He stumbled over to the Vandal and noted with grim satisfaction that his throw had found it's mark. The Fallen was dead, it's heart pierced by a metal ball, and said metal ball was trying to pull itself out of the Vandals chest cavity. The guardian picked it up gingerly, wiping off a bit of blood that was covering it's eye.

"Don't ever do that again," Was the Ghosts only comment. The Guardian began to laugh, but was cut off by profuse coughing, which ended with him spitting up blood, "You'll heal," The Ghost said, "The power of the Light tends to heal you Guardians quite quickly, but i wouldn't strain yourself, "Whatever," The Guardian moaned, putting back on his bloodied helmet, "Just get me out of here." And so off they went, the new Guardian and his Ghost, unaware as they flew from the Cosmodrome that they were being watched. Watched by a Stranger whose metallic eyes gleamed with memories of long forgotten wars, and wars still yet to come.


	2. Chapter 2

The Last City, 22 ATC

Julius supposed he should be thankful, as he watched survivors stumble past him. He had been quite the lucky individual after all. He was born one year after the end of The Collapse, but as a baby he was lucky enough to be under the Traveler when the entire world went to shit. He had remained safe, and so he had spent the next 22 years getting constantly reminded that he was lucky to be alive. Julius was a tall, lean man with pale skin. He kept his black hair cropped short, and always remained clean shaven, an appearance that gave him a striking resemblance to his namesake; Julius Caesar. But despite how "lucky" he was, Julius was worried. The survivors of The Collapse were coming in ever increasing groups, and it was of the mind of many of the City's original inhabitants that the numbers could get out of hand. Julius had no such thoughts, he had no qualms with the stragglers, the only thing worrying him were the Fallen, with so much of humanity in one place, he felt that an attack would be inevitable.

Julius turned his attention to the Tower, the dominant structure in the entire City. Home, Julius thought, to the Guardians. Julius was slightly fearful of the Guardians, the whole idea of resurrection, regardless of intention, seemed strange to him. But he knew that their help was a must, and he had learned long ago that the will of the Traveler was not to be questioned. But maybe there was something he could do to help it.

"You want what?"

The Speaker was amused. The masked man rarely, if ever, accepted requests from the City, as he had more pressing matters to attend to, with monitoring the spread of the Darkness, to sending out Ghosts to find worthy Guardians. He had not accepted this request, this man, or boy, he thought, as humans were capable of living centuries and this boy had just barely reached 20. He had barged in, uninvited, but The Speaker decided to hear him out, as he knew that valuable things could come from the most unlikely sources.

"I want a wall." He said bluntly, keeping his eyes on where he assumed the Speaker's eyes were.

"Listen, with more and more people coming in, we need a defense that can withstand Fallen assaults." The Speaker was not shocked by this question, he had thought of it before, but he decided to press the boy a bit more, "A wall, you say? Why would you need my Guardians for such an endeavour."

"Because we need a symbol, everyone in the City idolizes the Guardians, you guys are the Traveler, and that's all we have left. We need you." The Speaker laughed, "My dear boy, you really are the observant one, so what do you propose?"

The boy took out a map, I propose we build a hexagon around the city, so six walls, each point of the hexagon is controlled by a Guardian, and they work together to keep the perimeter safe." The Speaker looked at the map and nodded, "Six fronts...It works..But there is one thing." He pointed at Julius, "I think we need a man from the city to help organize, a real show of good faith between the Guardians and the citizens, so I'm making an executive decision, you have to be one of them."

Julius immediately began shaking his head, "No,No there are many others more qualified, older, wiser,stronger..."

"I've made up my mind," The Speaker said, "I've been thinking about this for some time now, and I believe that I have just the guardians in mind." He turned towards the door, "Saladin! Zavala! Shaxx! Jolder! Radegast!" 5 guardians walked in, Saladin: A dark skinned, bald human with a hard frown and emotionless eyes. Zavala: A bald, blue skinned awoken, a look of regal calm across his face. Shaxx: A grinning human with shaggy hair and a thin beard, a spiked helmet tucked under his arm. Jolder: A Exo with no paint or markings, except for a single gash mark running down the side of his face, leaving one of his eyes dim and unseeing. And finally there was Radegast: A massive Asian man with eyes seemed to be filled with barely controlled rage.

"These will be your guardians, child, now tell us. What is your name?" If Julius was nervous, it didn't show, his voice rang out clear and true as he said, "Julius, Julius Caesar." Shaxx let out a laugh, "Look here," He laughed, a slight British accent in his voice, "We can't possibly lose with a Roman emperor of our side,"

"Quiet Shaxx" Saladin snapped, not even turning to look at his compatriot, "This is all fine, Speaker, but what will we call ourselves?"

It was Julius's turn to laugh, "Thats easy," He remarked, sliding his hand along the wall next to him, "We're building a wall here, we need something befitting of such a title. Humans had struggled for ages to find something to build upon, to not only to protect themselves but expand into the unknown. First it was fire, but I feel humanity found it's greatest salvation in a little bit of metal, Something that lead to all this." He turned towards his compatriots, arms stretched out wide, "Our will will be unbreakable, We will stand together as the chain that protects this city, we will be Lords...Iron Lords."


	3. Chapter 3

In Route to The City, 500 ATC

Marcus was nodding his head slowly, "Seems legit," He concluded. The ghost had just finished explaining to him much of humanity's past, the light of the Golden age, the Darkness and the fall of the Traveler, The rise of the City and the Guardians. "You don't doubt me?" The Ghost asked, as he tried to weld Marcus' flimsy armor back together.

"What can I say?" Marcus said, "Of course I'm going to believe the floating ball of light after we just fought for our lives against a bunch of 4-armed aliens."

Marcus: The name he and his ghost had finally settled on, was sitting comfortably as the ship's autopilot made it's way towards the city. Stripped of his armor, Marcus was wearing nothing but a skin tight black body suit. He was tall, tanned and muscular, his black hair, streaked with grey, flowed down to his shoulders, and his face was covered with a scruffy beard.

"By the way," His Ghost piped up, "You might want to shave that beard"

"Why would I do that?"

"If you're going to be a Titan, Zavala is probably going to want you looking more professional."

Marcus turned in his chair to look at the Ghost, "Zavala? Sounds familiar."

"Really?" The Ghost said, "Unless you somehow knew Zavala before he died, I don't see how you would know him unless you had lived in the city." Marcus scratched his head, "It's nothing solid, just scattered bits of information that pops up in my head, whenever I get something solid I lose it just as quick," The Ghost turned back towards the armor, disappointed, "Oh, well tell me if you remember anything else." The abrupt end to the conversation did not sit well with Marcus, and he cleared his throat awkwardly before saying: "So you said I'm a Titan? What makes you think that?" The Ghost didn't even bother looking up, "You're too big to be hunter and too dumb to be a warlock, you have the brawn, so that really narrows it down to Titan."

"Don't you have armor to fix?"

"It'd go faster if you shut up."

"You A.I's always this snarky?"  
"Wait until you meet Cayde."... "Who?"

The Last City, Earth 500 ATC

"Come on man, you can do better than that!" The Exo mocked, as he jumped from tree to tree. Marcus chased after him, muttering obscenities under his breath as he tried to keep up with the Hunter vanguard. Cayde-6 had seen Marcus as soon as he entered the Tower, and wasted no time at all shouting, "New recruit!" before dragging Marcus into one of the Towers many simulation chambers. The simulation was of a generic forrest, and Cayde's task was simple. Without using weapons, the Titan would have to find a way to get Cayde down from the tree's. Marcus had tried everything, from rocks to his own helmet, but yet he could not hit Cayde.

He almost wished that his Ghost was still there, because he knew he was good at throwing that sarcastic ball. But no, as soon as they landed the Ghost vanished, saying something about reporting to the Speaker, whoever that was. Marcus shook his head, bringing himself back to the present, he had a basic idea of what Cayde wanted: He wanted Marcus to use his Titan abilities, but Marcus had no idea what those abilities were.

He thought back to his Ghosts earlier insult, "You have the brawn, so that really narrows it down to Titan." Marcus knew that already, despite being dead for who knows how long, the Guardian was surprisingly keeping pace with Cayde, and he didn't feel tired in the slightest. As for the brawn...Marcus smiled. Cayde looked back at the Titan, letting out a chuckle to himself as he watched the Marcus run under him, he was just beginning to call the drill to an end when he heard a loud snap behind him, Glancing back, and for the briefest moments Cayde felt an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time: Total astonishment. Quickly closing in on the Exo, Marcus was moving so fast he was almost a blur, his momentum was carrying him faster and faster towards the Hunter. But instead of dodging the trees like before, Marcus was literally running through them, and they fell with a crash behind him. Cayde looked under him, the Titan was almost upon him, and as his foot landed on the next tree Marcus made his move, diving forward, Marcus wrapped his arms around the tree and tackled it with such a force that he totally uprooted the tree, roots and all. It came crashing down with Cayde along with it.

After that there was only silence, broken only by Marcus' heavy breathing and Cayde's hysterical laughter. "Well." Cayde gasped, pausing in between fits of laughter, "That was brilliant, totally unconventional but brilliant!"

Marcus stood up, cracking his back as he glared at the Exo, "What other choice did I have?"

"You know you have grenades right?" Cayde opened his palm, and in it appeared a grenade, "For most guardian's, grenades are the first thing we learn how to use. We are always subconsciously storing Light, and once we store enough of it we gain access to a variety of abilities." Cayde casually threw the grenade behind him, where it blew up dosing the trees in fire. "Thats a solar grenade." The hunter explained, "As I hunter I can also use this throwing knife, for essentially the same effect."

Cayde threw the knife into a tree, as soon as it stuck the tree also caught on fire. "Judging by the way you just tackled that tree, I'd guess you are more naturally inclined to a striker type of Titan. What you did we call a 'shoulder charge' and the better you get with it, the less time you need to build momentum." Cayde snapped his fingers and the simulation disappeared, "The rest I will leave you to figure out." Cayde put a metallic hand on the Titans shoulder, "Come on buddy, let's get you some actual armor other than that hunk of junk...By the way nice beard."

The Last City, Earth 500 ATC

Marcus looked at the armor that Cayde had got for him, needless to say, it was a huge step above the armor he had just discarded. What he liked about it most was the lack of bulky shoulders, which Marcus had seen other Titans hauling around on his way in. It was a bluish grey color brought together in a camo style. Both the gauntlets and boots looked ready to cave in some fallen skulls. Lastly was the helmet, it was beautiful in it's simplicity, just a grey helmet with a reflected bullet proof visor. The armor also came equipped, Cayde said, with a jet pack for increased movement, a regenerating shield, and a online medical system linked to Marcus's body, ready to administer pain killers or other medications necessary. Cayde couldn't help but grin at the guardian's childlike expression of wonder, he too remembered when he first was brought into the Tower, and he knew all too well the awe Marcus was feeling.

"There is one thing I've left out," Cayde said, "And that's your mark. All types of guardians have a sort of item that we hold sacred, it represents who we are or what we stand for. Us Hunters have our cloaks, warlocks have bonds, and Titans have marks, which I guess you could say are sashes. You'll either make your own, find one you like, or be gifted one by the many organizations here in the tower, which I'll leave you to discover for yourself."

Marcus turned towards Cayde with immense gratitude in his eyes, "Thank you Cayde." If an Exo was capable of blushing, Cayde would be doing just that. "Alright Guardian," Cayde beamed, "All that we need now is to get you a weapon, because no offense, that Khvostov ain't cutting it."

Despite the truth in Cayde's words, Marcus felt hesitant, because the despite shape the gun was in, he felt some sort of connection with it, be it the fact that it helped him survive the Cosmodrome or the feeling in the back of his mind that he knew it from somewhere.

"Fine with me," Marcus said, "But I'm going hold on to this bad boy, store it somewhere, who knows maybe start a collection."

Cayde shrugged his shoulders, "Fine with me, now if you'll follow me to our resident gunsmith I'm sure we could find something for you."

Banshee-44 was an interesting character, to say the least. As they approached him it was clear that he was muttering intensely to himself, and it took a not so subtle cough by Cayde to get the gunsmiths attention. "What?" he said, glancing up startled, "Oh Cayde, it's you, what brings you to old Banshee?"

"Nothing personally, just wanted you to get this guardian a decent weapon," Banshee looked Marcus up and down, and the guardian could have sworn the Exo was trying to smell him, "Auto Rifle" Banshee said. Turning around, he grabbed a gun of the rack and handed it to the guardian, "Suros JJJ-76, 34 round magazine. It's got a bit of a kick on it, but if you master that you are going to have to problem blowing some heads off, you get where I'm coming from guardian?

"Uh yeah sure,"

Banshee rolled his eyes, "Jeez you got an energetic one, don't you Cayde, No way this kid survives tomorrow." Marcus turned towards Cayde, "Um what?" Cayde grinned, "Tomorrow guardian, is a very special event, the warlock vanguard, Ikora Rey, along with myself, have organized a little get together between three old friends,"

Banshee laughed, "Friends? You got a weird idea of friendship Cayde". The Exo nodded, "Yep, it's going to be quite weird to see Shaxx, Zavala, and Saladin together again". Marcus scratched his head, "Zavala's name I know, but who are those other two?

"Shaxx, the founder and handler of the Crucible, our little guardian vs guardian competition, and Lord Saladin, last official member of the Iron Lords, the three go way back, but their relationship hasn't always been buddy buddy. Anyways, we got them all together to watch a little tournament between our newest guardians, and you happen to be one of them."

Marcus shook his head in disbelief, "And you tell me this now?"

"There's nothing to worry about, it's just a good old fashioned, live fire brawl."

"Live fire?"

"Oh come on, don't be a baby, don't act like you've never died before."


	4. Chapter 4

Last City, Earth 72 ATC

"So guys...Any action on your end?"

"No Shaxx."

"Okay...What about now?"

Julius rolled his eyes. There were a lot of ways he could curse someone in this day in age. He could tell them to go hug a fallen walker, travel to fallen infested London , or attempt to have sexual relations with the queen of the Reef. But never, ever, would Julius curse someone quality time with Shaxx, let alone 50 years of it. But despite all of his rambling, and the long hours it took to organize workers, and the long years it actually took to build the damn thing, they had done it. The wall stood ready, and so the Iron Lords stood ready. But, as much as Julius hated to admit it, though the wall had stood for ten years now, they had seen few Fallen, nothing more then scattered patrols that had been dealt with quickly. Julius could tell that the guardians, the Iron Lords and guardians assigned to patrol the wall, were getting antsy. Julius, as well as the many volunteers from the City, had felt no such impatience.

Despite their extended lifespan, regular humans lived short lives compared to their guardian brethren, who for all intents and purposes it seemed, could live forever. It was for that reason that Julius was content to stay at the wall, as long as the City was safe, he felt at ease. It was thanks to this mentality that Julius had missed the faction wars that had plagued the City years prior, he knew that it would resolve and it did. So Julius was content, content to stand and watch the horizon, proud to wear the white gold armor of the Iron Lords, proud to...

"Guys."

"By the Light what is it this time Shaxx?" That was Jolder, in the years that Julius knew him, he had never meet a more mysterious Exo, what made Jolder interesting was that, unlike many of his brothers, he still held the designation 1, he had never been wiped, and sometimes Julius could see emotion in his eyes, eyes that had seen too much, eyes that had seen paradise and ruin. But despite his knowledge, Jolder never spoke a word about his past, claiming that "Somethings are better left forgotten."

"Jolder, I'm serious!" Shaxx complained, "I'm getting something on my radar!" Julius sighed and was almost about to tell Shaxx to jump off the wall when a voice said, "Shaxx is right." He almost didn't recognize the voice. In 50 years, Julius had only heard Radegast speak once, the monster of a man spoke when absolutely necessary, and if this was one of those times...

"Banshee!" Julius called, "Bring me a pair of binoculars!" Banshee-22, his second in command, hurried forward. Pearing through them, Julius made a noise that sounded like a mix between an exclamation of terror, and a hysterical laugh. "What is it sir?" asked Banshee nervously, Julius turned and tossed the Exo the binoculars, "See for yourself," Julius turned towards the assembled troops, "Sound the alarm! Code 6." and as he reached down and picked up his helmet, he muttered under his breath, "You only live once..." Banshee looked through the binoculars, and what he saw almost wanted to make him wipe his memory banks himself. Fallen, ranks upon ranks of Fallen. Banners from all sorts of Fallen houses: Kings, Devils, Winter, and more stood ready to charge. Banshee looked down at the radar and let out sort of a choked scream, all around the hexagon shaped walls were red dots. They were surrounded.

Julius stood in front of the wall, glaring at the Fallen armies through his helmet. He had ordered the majority of his troops down in front of the wall while keeping a few behind to man the artillery. His trusty Khvostov resting on his shoulder, Julius was attempting to save face in front of his troops, trying to hide his fear.

"Well now!" Shaxx cried with glee over the radio, "This is what I'm talking about, I've been waiting 50 years for this!"

"Shaxx!" Said Saladin, "Your impatience will be the death of you."

"Enough with the banter," Jolder said, "Is everyone in position?" His question was returned with a unanimous chorus of yes's. "Well it's all yours now boss." He meant Julius, and now it fell on his shoulders to make the decision to charge. He sighed, he really didn't want to charge especially since the Fallen were out of artillery range. So he needed them to charge, but how? "Banshee, am I patched into the speaker networks?"

"Yes sir."

"Good."

Julius cleared his throat, "Fallen!" He yelled, his voice echoing all around him, the speakers were loud enough that even the Fallen could hear him, "You dare think you show up to my City uninvited and think you can just prance in without violence? No, you aren't that stupid." He heard a low murmur start to rise from the Fallen troops, they could understand him it seemed. "Well then, I'm here to tell you that you will not be taking anything today! In fact I guarantee not a single fallen warrior will step inside the City!" Julius walked forward and drew a line in the ground with his foot, "I guarantee that not a single one of you will make it past this line!"

"Nice." Said Shaxx. Julius nodded grimly, it worked all right, the Fallen were in a frenzy, and at once they charged full force towards the City. "Artillery!" Julius yelled, "Open fire! Keep at it until they meet us." With a boom the cannons of the City came to life, sending down death as the Fallen ran madly towards the assembled troops, "Light be with you all," Julius mumbled, he then cut himself off from the speakers, chambering a round in his rifle. He stood there, unmoving, his loyal soldiers next to him. The first wave of Fallen was repelled easily enough, but that was it, the Fallen stopped sending in one wave at a time but starting coming in larger and larger numbers, literally throwing themselves at the defenders, who refused to give up a single inch. Julius was an animal, emptying magazine after magazine into as many Fallen as he could. Once he ran out of ammo he started using his fists, feet, and combat knife. He could feel the heat of the Fallen rifle shots as the flew past them, he felt the heat even more when they found their mark.

Despite that Julius refused to move, and by and by the Fallen numbers began to dwindle, less and less troops rushing their position, until finally they seized coming all together, they retreated, or they were just all dead. The defenders of the City had prevailed. Julius took of his helmet, his face covered with sweat, his once polished armor dirty and broken, numerous wounds on his body where blood flowed freely. He looked around, and saw with a sort of grim pride that, as he predicted, not a single Fallen had made it past his line. That pride turned to dismay as he became aware of the bodies of his own men lying besides him. In the distance he could hear Banshee screaming, yelling over and over again, "Wipe me! Wipe me!" as he sat on the ground, his legs jerking uncontrollably, laying a few feet away from from. Julius couldn't shut it out, as Banshee's screams were quickly replaced by the cries of the wounded.

Julius watched as the medics started helping the wounded, a medic tried to help him but he shook her off, he would be helped last, his wounds could wait. Slowly and painfully, he began to walk away, there were other fronts that needed to be checked.

The five of them looked down at the body, silent. Shaxx had a look of utter shock on his face, Zavala and Saladin an expression full of sadness and grief. Radegast, eyes burning brighter than Julius had ever seen them. Julius himself had no words, and he was not ashamed to feel tears running down his cheeks. Jolder, their comrade, their friend, lay dead at their feet. His one good eye was sputtering, and there was almost a twisted smile on his face. As if he had finally heard the great joke of death after dodging it for so long. His Ghost lay besides him, pierced through by a wire rifle. One of Jolder's soldiers had told them what happened, Jolder went down beneath a cluster of Fallen, and as his Ghost appeared to revive him, a rifle shot, by total unlucky chance, had found it's mark through the Ghosts flimsy shell. "FUCK!" Shaxx yelled, unleashing a burst from his rifle into a nearby Fallen corpse.

"It wasn't suppose to fucking end like this!" Shaxx roared, tears now running profusely down his cheeks, "Not for him, not for any of us!" Zavala nodded grimly, "Yet now we know. Now we know we aren't as invincible as we thought."

"I don't bloody care!" Shaxx yelled, putting his helmet back on his head, "I refuse to wait for those bastards to come back again! I say we go out and kill every last Fallen!"

"No." Julius said, "We will not." Shaxx wheeled around and faced the human, "Oh no? What are you going to do about it?"

Julius shook his head, "Separate, we are weak, vulnerable. Together we can never fall, look at what happened today, our chain around the City remains unbroken."

"And what about Jolder, what about him?"

"Broken pieces can be replaced, that's the way life works Shaxx."

Shaxx lunged at Julius, only to be stopped by Zavala and Saladin, "You heartless bastard!" He roared, as he struggled to get free, "That's what we are to you? Expendable? Well then I refuse to-"

He was cut of by Radegast, who calmly punched Shaxx in the face, knocking him out cold. "Shaxx does not understand." Radegast said, turning towards his comrades, "His path will lead to more bloodshed, more sorrow, a path I know all too well. But..." He said, turning towards Julius, "He has a point, We cannot hide behind these walls forever, one day, when we have grown stronger, we will branch out to reclaim what we have lost, and you will not stop us."

Julius opened his mouth, closed it and swiftly turned on his heels back towards the wall, "You do that big guy," He said as he walked away, "I'll be long gone by the time that happens."


	5. Chapter 5

The Last City, Earth 500 ATC

Marcus yawned as he woke up, blinking and rubbing his eyes as he focused on his Ghost floating above him. "Your awake."

"You sound surprised." The Ghost buzzed around Marcus as he got out of bed, "You sleep so soundly, it's like you dont have a care in the...By the Light."

"What?" Marcus questioned, looking around for the source of the Ghosts exclamation.

"Have you looked yourself in the mirror?"

"No, I went to bed as soon as I got here, why?" The A.I just looked towards the bathroom mirror, and Marcus followed his gaze, letting out a whistle as he stared at his reflection." Marcus' body was covered with scars upon scars, multiple stab and slash scars covered his torso, his arms and legs were peppered with bullet holes, and on the left side of his chest, right above the heart, was a large burn that covered his entire pectoral.

Marcus pointed at the burn, "I have a feeling that this is the one that got me Ghost, whenever that was." The Ghost looked at the guardian with a burning curiosity, "Just who were you?"

"I have no idea..." An awkward silence ensued, which Marcus decided to end by tactfully changing the subject, "So big day huh?"

That brought the Ghost out of his deep thoughts, "Oh yes! You will be participating in a free for all elimination style tournament against 5 other rookie guardians, I've researched the other competitors and have concluded that based on your skills/luck, you only really have to worry about 2 guardians."

"Did you say luck somewhere in there?"

"No." Marcus laughed, "Alright then, who's my competition?" The Ghost's eye lit up activating a life sized hologram of two guardians. "Lance-12" The Ghost said, directing Marcus's attention to a grinning Exo with red eyes and red camo decal, a white star emblazoned across his forehead. "He's a hunter, though he's only been here a little while longer than you, he's already being called Cayde Jr, for his quick wit and his quick trigger finger, that coupled with his deadeye aim and love for hand cannons, you got to watch out for this guy."

"Cayde Jr? Great, so I got a comedian huh? Well I hope he can take getting his ass kicked."

"I like your attitude," The Ghost said, "But it's not him I'm the most worried about."

Marcus looked away from the mirror and looked at the Ghost, helmet in his hands, "Really? So who's my biggest competition?"

The ghost activated another hologram, showing a blue skinned girl with piercing yellow eyes and colorless hair parted to the right. Marcus whistled, "What is she?"

"An Awoken, a mysterious race of people, they were ones who tried to escape the Collapse, but they didn't make it far...But they survived, through the ordeal changed them."

"I mean...Do they still die if I shot them enough?"

"..."

"What?"

"Anyways, this awoken calls herself Laura, and she's a warlock. Out of all the people fighting she has the most experience, She also has actual fieldwork under her belt...Official fieldwork Marcus."

Marcus twirled his helmet along his finger laughing as he walked past the Ghost and towards the door, "Well what are we waiting for then? I love a challenge!"

Cayde-6 sat overlooking the simulator with a wide grin on his face, Ikora Rey sat next to him, not looking quite as pleased. "I don't know why you have to drag me into these things Cayde."

"What do you mean?"

Ikora turned her head, Zavala, Shaxx, and Saladin were all sitting next to each other, looking deliberately looking forward.

"Isn't it great?" Cayde said, "This is honestly one of, if not the funniest thing I've ever done."

Ikora looked at Cayde, the irritation obvious, "I just hope they don't kill each other?"

"Don't worry! I confiscated all weapons when they came in."

"Do you think any of them need weapons?"

"..."

" Oh so you want a fist fight?"

Cayde shrugged his shoulders, "Honestly, I could use a little something to do. Anyways Ikora, This isn't just me fucking around here. This competition has merit." At that Ikora laughed, "Please Cayde, I've seen the roster, Laura is going to make everyone else look pathetic out there."

" I wouldn't be so sure about that,"

Ikora rolled her eyes, "What you think your Lance can have a chance?"

"Mini me? Who said anything about him? No I got someone else I'm going for, Someone who's going to blow the competition out of the water..."

"YAHOOOOOO!" Marcus yelled, standing on the platform inside the arena. "I'm so fucking ready for this!"

"Alright guardians, calm down, calm down." Cayce's voice echoed over the intercom, "Normally, all Crucible matches would take place in off the Tower in one of our many designated arenas, but since this is a bit different, being that people other than Shaxx are watching you kill each other, We're just going to run the whole thing from the simulation here." Alright, activating Simulation: Bannerfall, elimination. May the best guardian win!"

The air shimmered around Marcus and the area around him suddenly became clear. He was under a tree, the familiar architecture of the City forming around him.

"Time to go Ghost!"

"Right," The Ghost said, "Remember your radar, Ammo count, and shields are all present on your helmets HUD."

"Right-o," Marcus grinned, "Now lets pick up some speed." He immediately began sprinting down a corridor, as he moved faster, he noticed a red blimp appear in front of him. "Target just around the corner! Be careful!" The Ghost said. "Careful?" Marcus laughed, "Let me show you careful!"

Sprinting at full speed, Marcus spun around the corner, shocking the fellow Titan in front of him, who tried in vain to raise his gun.

Instead of getting a shot of, the Titan got Marcus's fist in the face. The blow was enough to send the Titan flying backwards into a wall. The wall cracked under the force of the titans body, and Marcus's opponent slumped to the floor, blood oozing from his dented helmet.

"You caved in his skull," Ghost said, "Even with the helmet he didn't share a chance."

Marcus raised his first into the air, "One down, four to go!"

"Don't get so cocky," A female voice said from behind him. Marcus barely had time to turn and put his hand up before a throwing knife pierced directly through his hand. Marcus pulled out the knife from his hand and threw it back at the female hunter, she caught it with a laugh.

"Think you're hot shit huh?" She said, spinning her hand cannon in along her finger, "You're not the only one here who thinks they're going to win. Now, care to try your luck against my cannon?"

"Not particularly," He replied, A grenade appeared in his hand and he chucked it at the hunter. She ducked and it flew over her head and stuck on the wall behind her.

"No wonder you're a Titan!" She mocked, "You can't aim for shi-" She was cut off by a click behind her, that and the 10,000 volts of electricity suddenly coursing through her veins. She fell to her knees, screaming and twitching, before the second pulse caused her screaming to stop, and she fell to the floor smoking, her corpse still twitching.

"When did you learn to use grenades?" Ghost asked. "Last night," Marcus replied, "Totally by accident, let me just say I well to aware about what she just went through." Stepping over her charred corpse, Marcus turned the corner back into the main courtyard with the tree, only to watch a male warlock get shot straight in the throat.

The Warlock tried in vain to gasp for breath, and he collapsed to his knees clutching his throat. Another warlock, female, walked up to him, the smoke from her scout rifle telling Marcus enough to know that she was the one who shot him.

"Please," She said, her voice a strange mix of seductive and scary, "As if there was anyone else here who could actually keep up with me, Well I guess it's time for you to taste the void!" She put her hand out in front of her and the warlocks choking stopped, a small bit of purple light came out of his chest and onto the woman's hand. The rest of the warlocked dissolved into purple void energy.

"What a mastery of Life Drain!" Ghost said, "That's got to be Laura"

Marcus nodded, "Yeah, she is one scary bitch...Damn."

"Whats wrong"

"I have the weirdest boner right now."

"What was that?" Laura said, turning her visored face towards Marcus, "I said!" Marcus yelled ,raising his voice, "Watching you kill that guy made me strangely aroused!"

"Really? Then maybe you would like it if I made you my next victim!"

"Hold up!" A voice from above Marcus said, "If there's going to be any killing, I want in on it,"

A hunter jumped down from the tree and walked over, a hand cannon slung over his shoulder.

"Lance-12? I presume?" Laura asked. The hunter bowed, "At your service, and let me just say I've really appreciated the show you two have put on, but it's time for old daddy Lance to clean up and take home the gold."

"Oh yeah?" Marcus asked, "And how are you going to do that?"

Lance laughed and tossed his hand cannon up in the air, as soon as he did so his entire body erupted into a yellow light, and his gun also got brighter as he caught it.

"Golden gun." Ghost mumbled, "How is that even possible?"

"Run?" Marcus said.

"Run."

Marcus sprinted for the nearest cover, But Lance was pointing his gun at Laura. "What are you going to do know, my little Awoken princess?"

Beneath Laura's helmet, Her eyes began to glow purple, Without a word she jumped up into the air and a giant purple ball of void energy appeared in her hand. "Shit." Was all Lance said, as he fired a shot just as Laura threw her bomb. The golden shot caught Laura straight in the head, and her body exploded in a burst of solar fire. Lance fared no better, as the bomb got him straight in the face, his entire body dissolving as the void engulfed him.

Marcus poked his head out from behind the tree, "Did I win?"

"By the loosest definition of the term, yes." A voice said over the intercom. The simulation dissolved, and the defeated guardians appeared around Marcus as the doors to the chamber opened. First came Ikora, a relatively disappointed look on her face, following here were three Titans, Zavala walked between Shaxx and Saladin, a hand on both of their shoulders. Lastly came Cayde, who came pretty much crawling in, laughing hysterically.

"Oh shit," Cayde wheezed, using the door as a support, "That was the funniest thing I have ever seen, Lance was all like 'BAM!' and Laura was all like 'BOOM" and Marcus, oh shit Marcus you ran like a little girl."

"Excuse me for not wanting to get in the way of golden penis and space magic over there." Marcus retorted.

"That's not the point," Zavala spoke up, "You're a Titan, I would expect you to never run away from conflict."

Shaxx let out a sigh, "Oh bloody hell Zavala, he's just a rookie, give him a break."

"There's no time for weakness," Zavala retorted, "You know that."

Ikora stepped between the two Titans, "Alright, enough, Marcus, Lance, Laura. For finishing in the top three, the Vanguard has found it prudent to put you three together for a high priority mission in the Cosmodrome, briefing will be tomorrow, don't be late. Ikora walked out, followed closely behind by Laura, Cayde slapped Lance on the back and the two left, Zavala looked Marcus up and down, nodded, and left. Shaxx and the other guardians followed suit, With only Marcus and Saladin remaining.

"You show promise," Saladin said, "Shaxx is right, as much as I hate to admit it, but you are a rookie, you'll learn in time."

"Thank you sir," Marcus said, "Truth be told I just did what came naturally." Saladin nodded, "That's where it starts, instinct. You've shown me that you have all the skills necessary to be a prodigy, but you need to be taught, Zavala and Shaxx are too busy, I on the other hand, am not."

"Really? I heard you were some big powerful dude, Iron Lord or something."

Saladin laughed, "You do have a lot to learn, come with me, I'll start you on the right track."


End file.
